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Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Libérée, Délivrée

Somehow we survived the fourth and (please Nathan) final day of #BrusselsLockdown. Quite honestly, yesterday was not the kind of day when anyone much wants to leave the house anyway - cold, windy, with occasional flurries of sleet, chickens huddled by back door pleading to come in. The children did no work (of course) and wore no clothes. My sister, never one to pay much attention to advice of any sort, came to visit and I found myself texting her before she arrived "we will definitely be around, the boys have not got dressed for three days" as a sort of vague, lazy bit of hyperbole then realising it was the LITERAL TRUTH. Imagine. Filth. I wore clothes and became unreasonably angry at nothing.

I actually braved the mean streets of Brussels on Monday night to review a restaurant and everything seemed much as ever, ie. it was impossible to park and everyone was driving like crackhead weasels. We nearly actually died of shock in the restaurant at the realisation that mains were priced at €40 FORTY OF YOUR EARTH EUROS but after it was too late and we had decided to share three small starters the waitress laconically told us they were like, sort of, to share? Sigh. This afternoon we ventured out again, as F was doing his self-imposed helicopter self-parenting (Chinese + violin). I wandered around the very empty shops, mainly populated by cheerful heavily armed policemen taking advantage of the circumstances to do their Christmas shopping. Marks and Spencer was deserted and giving out small cups of hot chocolate and cookies, just making me love them all the more (I bought mince pies even though it is November and thus verboten). The metro was its usual jolly self, a mixture of urine and waffle, everyone grumpy and standing in front of the sodding carriage doors as if they have never taken public transport in their lives.

This is fascinating isn't it, my hot "take" on Brussels under siege. The power of thought has been sapped from me by unlimited consumption of Le Soir's liveblog (sample comment "I refuse to take my children to school and I dare the education minister to make me!") and all I am really capable of is catching up on Catastrophe and First Dates in glowering silence. Unfortunately I cannot do this, since I must first catch up with all the work I have ignored due to terrorism.

It is my birthday tomorrow. I have had a small birthday epiphany, which is that to avoid seething resentment and childish disappointment, my normal birthday state, I need to buy myselfa nice, wholly indulgent present and am now weighing up what it should be - Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax bath oil, this box of salty, bread-y chocolate, or Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow? (all three) (no, I can't) (hmm)

Percentages:

20% So damn cold
20% So behind on my advent calendar ordering shizz
20% So spinach/parmesan bechamel
20% "Il fait des brocantes" boggling (French only this, I can't find an English version, but basically the guy who drove Salah Abdeslam back to Belgium apparently has a car full of weapons "because he goes to a lot of car boot sales").
20% Almost 41 and still immensely stupid

42 comments:

You most certainly deserve all three gifts having survived the horrors of lockdown. I take it you didn't find it an excellent opportunity to catch up on work though... Make sure you take a day off tomorrow and show yourself a good time. CJ xx

Happy Birthday Waffle! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US (I've no idea whether the rest of the world is aware of this) and I am thankful, among other things, that you are blogging again. And I can't wait for the book!!! (Is there a US release date yet?)

Dear Waffle, wishing you the happiest of birthdays and all that is good for the coming year. Thank you for creating this welcoming little corner of the Internet and for sharing the ups and downs of your life with us. You're an exceedingly lovely person so spoil yourself and get all the things you like, you deserve them all. Congratulations on your book, the cover is amazing and I'm sure the content is even better. Really looking forward to reading it.

How can another year have come and gone!?! A very happy birthday Emma. Huge congratulations on completing your memoir! Flipping fantastic news. Can't wait to read it. I hope you've treated yourself to all sorts of wicked and wonderful things today ;o).